Submission Guidelines

Note: Both General Submissions and SUBLINGUA PRIZE FOR POETRY are OPEN and Accepting Submissions ! Editors will judge the prize. $1000 prize for winning poem and nine finalists.

Inverted Syntax is published twice a year, once online and once in print. Starting in 2020, Inverted Syntax moved to a new schedule for print issue releases. To accommodate this new schedule, there was a second issue printed in November 2020. Commencing in 2021, print issues have been released every November. 

Our Sublingua Prize for Poetry now runs April through June every year.
Our general reading window is currently from March to July. 

Inclusivity Statement 

All volunteers, readers, subscribers, submitters, and any participants, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation or identity, education or disability are valued and respected. We are committed to creating an inclusive, supportive, and welcoming environment where our community of supporters and contributors can feel safe and at home. Inverted Syntax encourages diverse and inclusive voices, especially those from under-represented and vulnerable communities to consider Inverted Syntax. 

When we read:
Our general reading window is typically from February to July however, we have postponed opening until March.
Our general submission window is open and Sublingua Prize for Poetry opens on April 10

What  we publish:
Although we strongly resist the categorization of genre, for the purpose of assigning work to appropriate readers, our submission forms will be categorized by genre. We seek to publish unorthodox approaches to form and aesthetics. We love work that is non genre, those that straddle multiple categories, however you may submit previously unpublished work to the following categories:  flash fiction, flash nonfiction, and poetry. We also publish visual art. Just keep in mind that we hesitate to offer concrete definitions, because we don’t like limits. We might not know we love something until we see it. Send us what you think is missing—it could be what we’ve been searching for.
​
To get a better sense of what we are looking for, check out our  Fissured Tongue Volumes 1-4, Online issue 1 and Online Issue 2, and print issues 1-3 from our store. We suggest you follow our instagram, facebook, and twitter feeds to see what we are talking about, leaning towards or excited about. Most importantly,  get familiar with our mission and our masthead. Read up on our bios and see what we may be reading these days. 

What do we offer:
We are not funded to pay contributors, but if we publish you in print, we send you a copy and we work hard to promote your published work. We also throw a launch party and reading to celebrate published work and encourage you to attend and read (currently online due to COVID).
​
​Awards:
We  nominate for awards, such as the Pushcart Prize, the Best American series, Sundress Publications’ Best of the Net Anthology, and Best Microfiction. Nominees will be notified and listed on our site.

Guidelines 

Before you submit, check that your work meets our standards. Work is automatically ignored, rejected, declined, dismissed if it contains any manner of abusive behavior including bigotry and this extends to the creators of said work. To be clear: NO racism, NO misogyny, NO homophobia, NO sexism, NO transphobia, NO body-shaming, NO Islamophobia, NO xenophobia, absolutely no work that in any way perpetuate stereotypes. 
All work must be submitted through Submittable. We do not accept work via mail or email.
We do not accept any unsolicited submissions.
​The general submission fees ($4) covers our administration costs.
The Sublingua Contest fee differs.
Please note that we may close our submissions early at times due to volume or to prepare an upcoming issue. ​ Please wait for a response from us before sending us another submission.

Reading Blind Clarification:

Remove all identifying information. However: Work submitted by those belonging to any marginalized groups as well as work that centers the knowledge or experience of a marginalized group, should please include an identity statement on the first page of your submission (Not a biographical statement) titled "Own Voices Statement" so we have appropriate context for your relationship to that group/ to your work. Please do not provide any other identifying/biographical information about your work in the submission

Note: Once we accept your work, it may take four months to a year to appear online or in print, depending on when your work was submitted and accepted within the submission cycle.

• Do not list any identifying information on the submission. We prefer to read blind. Our readers ignore work that have identifying information
• Start each new piece on a new page and Please use page numbers
• 12-point font
• Garamond (this is the font we publish in so it makes it easier to receive work that matches this font however we do publish work in other font as part of  a creative project  )
• Prose should be double-spaced
• Send prose in .doc/ .docx and pdf. format. We prefer you send us both docx and pdf format of the same works in the submission.
• The journal is 8.5 x 8.5. We attempt to preserve the original formatting by all means possible, but there are some limitations when working within a 7.5x7.5 after margins. Please keep this in mind when considering Inverted Syntax as a home for your piece.
• While we hesitate to impose restrictions on length, we do have limitations to consider when it comes to our print issue.
• If your work is accepted we may make editorial suggestions. You will have a chance to review it before it is published.​ ​​

Fiction We no longer accept long fiction.

Nonfiction We no longer accept longer nonfiction.

Flash Fiction Submit ONE piece (800 words) or no more than TWO pieces of flash fiction (400 words each) in one document.  No exceptions. 

Flash Creative NonFiction Submit ONE piece (800 words) or no more than TWO pieces of flash fiction (400 words each) in one document.  No exceptions. We are not interested in scholarly articles.

Poetry Please submit 6-8 poems in a single document. Poems may be single-spaced. There aren't length restrictions for poems published in our online journal, however for our print journal, we prefer poems no longer than 50 lines or two pages. Each poem should begin on a new page.  Sublingua Prize for Poetry guidelines differ. Please check its submission tab.

Visual Art Please submit 6-8 pieces. We are open to any medium. As far as photography, we will no longer publish photos, however  collage work is always welcome. Send a web-readable format (we prefer .jpeg). 

Blog Articles  Temporarily Inactive.  

Want to learn what we publish? Order your copy available from our store.

Inverted Syntax Print Issue 4

*Inverted Syntax Print Issue 3 features work by new, emerging, and award-winning writers and artists, including winners of the 2020 Sublingua Prize for Poetry judged by literary luminary,
Khadijah Queen. Sherese Francis | Emily Marie Passos Duffy | Karolina Zapal 
Aaron Muller | Maya Salameh | makalani bandele | Emi Brener ​| Lawrence S. Early IV | Itiola Jones | Jo Stewart | Maurya Kerr  | Ayling Dominguez | Marietta Brill | Benjamin Stallings | Arnaav Bhavanani | Kiley McLaughlin | Luna Mac-Williams  | Lisa Berley | Meg E. Griffitts | Hildy Maze Sol Jacobs | Desiree Dufresne | Robert Vivian | Jason Masino | Christine Imperial | Ami J. Sanghvi | Violet Mitchell | Dave Brennan | Rayoung Lee Shoshana Surek | Devan Brettkelly | Zoë Johnson | Stephanie Niu Ronald Walker| Pune Dracker | Daisy Patton

​

*Inverted Syntax's Print Issue Two features Kiki Petrosino, J Michael Martinez, Megan Kaminski, Martin McGovern, Raymond Luczak, Leonora Simonovis, Megan Spiegel, Salma Ahmad Caller, Joni Renee Whitworth, Jonathan Riccio, Jessica Reed, Violet, Mitchell, Emmy Newman, Richard Westly, Ted Snyder, Christy Sheffield Sanford, Bryan Price, Terri Witek, Wren Tuatha, Christina Haglis, Alysse Mccana, artwork by Hildy Maze, Claire Lawerenc, K Johnson Bowles, Carol Radsprecher, and Andrea Rexilius. We are also proud to features our Sublingua Prize for Poetry Winner, Runners-up, and Finalists in Issue Two. This includes Gabriella Vogt (winner), Jessica Fischoff, Adam Malinowski, Elizabeth Galoozis, Shaun Holloway, James Davis, Craig Chen, Susan Friberg, Emily Davis-Fletcher, and Angelo Maneage. 

Inverted Syntax is edited by Nawal Nader-French, Jesica Davis, Allissa Hertz, Melanie Merle. Editorial Assistants include: Ginny Short, Jason Masino, Ashley Howell Bunn, Yesica Mirambeaux, Miranda Martinez Herbert, Andre O' Hoilette 

Discover more published work at www.invertedsyntax.com